WELCOME TO THE SFU OUTREACH ACTIVITIES SITE FOR  ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

This site consists of many different science activities and demonstrations that directly illustrate physical concepts important to the British Colombia elementary school curriculum. Many pages contain links to further activities, more detailed explanations, or even stories from the long and spotty scientific history. We have endeavored to make the explanations simple but sufficient.  This site is an evolving project. Your input, ideas, and complaints are essential for it to succeed. Please email questions and comments to Mike Anderson (maa3@sfu.ca) or Simon Watkins (simonw@sfu.ca)

Several of these activities are borrowed from  Science Is... . This book contains many of the activities on this site and many, many more. It's packed with facts, simple and thorough explanations and wonderful activities. If you are interested in actively enhancing science education for elementary students, find a copy.

The way this site is organized:

An introduction to activity page format

Activity pages organized by grade

Activity pages organized by subject

You may notice that some grades have many more activities than others. The curriculum for science is unevenly distributed. Grades two and three have a huge amount of physics, while grade six marks a significant step towards a more analytical, theoretical understanding of science. Many more activities, especially ones related to environmental concepts like energy usage, changing weather, and conservation concepts need to be developed. As these concerns are relatively new, there are few established demonstrations. Again, please help us out, by emailing in ideas to Mike Anderson (maa3@sfu.ca) or Simon Watkins (simonw@sfu.ca)